Iniquity on the Rise

"Still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe"

The mystery of iniquity is now widespread. The world has become a more violent and cruel place. The news is full of ugly footage of man's inhumanity to man. Antisemitism and anti-Christian bigotry and hatred is almost palpable around the globe.

But even on the local level, people just seem to be getting nastier and meaner. To quote the verse "the love of many shall grow cold" does not even quite personify the spread of evil we're seeing today in the course of our lives. The roaring lion is on the loose and he's seeking whom he may devour.

One can hardly leave the house without noticing this. I was at the grocery store the other day, putting my groceries on the checkout spindle, when I heard a vile voice growling at the clerk.

"Why are you putting my bread in the same bag with other stuff?," she snarled. The clerk looked up startled. The bag was only half-full with the bread on top. The mad woman went off in a rage. "I'll bag it myself! You don't know what you're doing. You people are always bagging my things wrong. I'm going to report you. I'm sick of this store!"

"I didn't know you wanted your bread in a bag by itself," the clerk politely responded. "I would have gladly done so if you only would have asked."

The crazy lady's voice could be heard throughout the store as she ranted on and on while bagging her purchases. When she was done she rolled her cart over to the customer service counter to complain. Although I had a lot of groceries, she was still over there ranting at the managers and pointing at the clerk when I paid for my groceries.

I told the clerk that I could see she did nothing wrong. She said, "Oh, that's nothing new. You should stand here and watch what I go through every day. You'd be shocked."

On the way out, I lingered near the front desk waiting for the mad banshee to leave. When she did, the manager immediately headed for the clerk, I suppose to confront her. I stopped the manager and told her that the customer was obviously having "aisle rage" and the clerk did nothing wrong. I gave her a blow by blow description of what I witnessed. Then her boss came over and she told me to tell him what I told her. I did so, and that calmed things down and they all returned to their stations.

The Bible says that the LORD loves justice. We as His ambassadors will run into such incidents like this -- even more so in the future as evil increases. May God give us the boldness and courage to speak up for the victims and not turn away like others, whether it is a small injustice or a big one.

"Open your mouth for the speechless,
In the cause of all who are appointed to die.
Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And plead the cause of the poor and needy."
- Proverbs 31:8-9